Square have never really given a definitive answer fan requests for Final Fantasy VII to be remade, but in an interview with OXM, Final Fantasy XIII producer Yoshinori Kitase said remaking the older titles in the series would take too long and cost too much. Meanwhile, Kitase also states that making Final Fantasy XIII-2 in a relatively short space of time is possible because its technology is so similar to Final Fantasy XIII.

“In the transition between XIII to XIII-2, it was quite easy because obviously we kept all the data and the engine – we had just finished using them so it was almost like they hadn’t gone cold. The technology was already warm and ready to use, so it was quite good.” Kitase told OXM.

Also within the team, we still had a feel for the game, it was still new to us, still lingering with us, so we were ready to move on to the sequel.” he added

Kitase says that it’d be a challenge to work on a past Final Fantasy title not only because it’d need a huge graphic overhaul, but also because the game worlds were bigger.

“But if we were to take one of the past Final Fantasy titles and make a sequel to it, I think that would be a lot more challenging because when they were on PlayStation and PlayStation 2 their actual game volume was a lot bigger, kind of.” said the Final Fantasy XIII producer.

“Graphically they weren’t as advanced as they are now, but there were lots of towns and worlds and cities and whatever.” he continued.

“So if we were to recreate the same kind of game – sequel or not – with the same volume, but give it a much higher level of graphical quality, it would us take three times, four times, even ten times longer to make such a game. So making a sequel for an old game would be a lot more challenging.” Kitase concluded.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Kitase’s comments about not being able to remake older Final Fantasy titles? Does the acknowledgement that older game worlds were bigger suggest style over substance with current gen Final Fantasy titles?